COURTESY LANTERMAN HOUSE (LEFT); BRADBURY & BRADBURY (RIGHT)LEFT An original beamed-ceiling decoration scheme
survives at the Lanterman House in California.
BELOW Narrow borders along beams coordinate
with the pendant frieze in a revival room.28 |ARTS & CRAFTS HOMES Winter 2017
BRINGING IT BACK&
F
or a cohesive scheme, espe-
cially one alluding to our deco-
rating past, don’t overlook the
ceiling. Before Modernism,
even residential ceilings were embel-
lished with color, striping, cast-plaster or-
naments, borders, specialty papers, and
murals. Ceilings still were decorated be-
tween 1901 and 1945. Particularly in Arts
& Crafts and English Tudor houses, main
rooms often had beams along with subtle
ornamental treatments.
In some rooms, the ceiling treat-
ment played off the frieze, picking up
its colors or repeating a motif. Comple-mentary ceiling fill papers were light in
tone and favored “natural” hues, such as
limestone and sand colors, accented with
eggplant, amber, and olive green.
After the First World War, Europe-
an-influenced Romantic Revival house
styles were built in the growing suburbs.
Many walls and the occasional ceiling
were troweled with textured plaster, to
give an impression of age and patina.
Ceilings were not universally monochro-
matic in this period, as they mostly were
in Colonial Revival homes. Ceiling dec-
oration was revived for Spanish Revival
and Renaissance or Beaux Arts homes,where wood coffers, colored stains,
painted decoration, and stenciling on or
between beams were popular treatments.
Tudor Revival houses had ceilings with
heavy beams, or with “Jacobean” plaster
featuring intricate strapwork. In librar-
ies and dining rooms, panels between
beams were painted with medieval or Tu-
dor motifs, or covered in embossed leath-
er or Lincrusta, or even fabric.BOX BEAM SYSTEMS From planbook
bungalows to the Gamble House, hous-
es of this period very often had a beamed
ceiling or two. Beams typically appearedBEAMS
& in between by Patricia Poore